Cobario is a one-of-a-kind world music trio from Vienna,
Austria. Beginning in 2006 as buskers in Barcelona, Rio Che and El Coba first
developed the instrumental acoustic project “Cobario” around their two powerful
guitar styles. Several months later, the extraordinary violinist Herwigos
joined their ranks to complete the trio, which casts its incomparable spell
with passion and finesse over a pleasure-loving audience.
Their unique style is probably best described as “gypsy
classique”. Flamenco, Gypsy, Celtic, Slavic, Asian and comtemporary influences
all contribute to the unique yet familiar sound, and invite the listener to
close their eyes and escape from reality. In the last 3 years Cobario has been
expanding their audience – the dashing ensemble not only delighted listeners at
festivals across Europe, but also enchanted thousands of listeners in Canada.
In January 2014 the guitarist Rio Che left the instrumental
trio. After some time of reflection El Coba and Herwigos decided to pursue the
project Cobario and found a brilliant substitute in Georg Aichberger alias
Giorgio Rovere. Within the same year Cobario released a new album (Royal) and
presented it at their wintertour through Germany, Austria and Swizzerland.
Herwigos
Herwigos Herwig Schaffner aka “Herwigos” began playing the
violin and the piano at the age of eight, and was invited to attend the
prestigious University Mozarteum Salzburg at only sixteen years of age. He
performed in several orchestras including the European Youth Orchestra, and
played under the direction of Yehudi Menuhin and Sandor Vegh. As a youth he was
already touring Europe and Asia, playing in cities like Istanbul, Berlin,
Beijing and Shanghai.
Three years ago Herwig started composing pieces for string
quartet and symphonic orchestra, having wonderful success with the
performances. Herwigos is the most recent member of Cobario, and remembers: “I
often have been asked to take part in a project, but the day I met these two
guys in the street I knew something was different. It was their charisma and
character, as well as the power of the music they were playing, which evoked
the desire in me for making and creating music together.”
When playing the violin, Herwigos intuitively picks up the
concentration of the listener and takes them away on a journey, a ranging of
passion from Viennese charm to gypsy spirit. His performances never fail to
elicit shouts and gasps of awe and excitement.
From the first day on he was obsessed with this instrument
and its variety of sounds. After some years of self taught playing, Georgio
attended the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna to study with
Arnoldo Moreno, who showed him the world of Latin Music and numerous other
possibilities of styles on the nylon guitar.
Georgio
Georgio studied in Vienna and Sydney, and played different
styles of music in several bands. His musical journeys took him to lots of
places, such as Spain, France, Germany, Croatia, Australia, and many others.
In 2014, he met the other guys of Cobario, who were then
searching for a new guitar player. Georgio decided to take the chance and
jumped on the „Cobario-Train“, in excitement about their musical journey
together.
He feels, that making music is his purpose in this life and
he wants to bring out the joy of making music in the compositions of Cobario!
El Coba
El CobaJakob Lackner aka “El Coba” became obsessed in his
early teenage years by the sound of guitars. After three years of learning on
his own, he began studying with Bernhard Schnabel (classical guitar), Erich
Zinner (electric guitar) and of course Austria’s famous Peter Ratzenbeck. Until
the age of 20, Jakob played in several musical projects covering many different
styles, until he met Rio Che, with whom he founded Cobario.
A joyously happy accident occurred after many months of
playing on the streets of Barcelona, when they met Herwigos while playing on
the Streets of Vienna in Summer of 2007.
Jakob is the youngest and most extroverted member of the
band, which is reflected in his compositions. From Cobario’s first show until
today, El Coba has shaken a lot of people awake with his impressive style of
playing guitar in an energetic and percussive way. Sometimes it seems as if he
would fall out of his chair while performing the dynamic and effusive
compositions of Cobario!
